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Spin off of the Bible electives question

How many of you that are okay with the Biblical History elective being offered in a public school would be okay with an Islamic history elective being offered?

I only read the first half of the replies of the other question when I posted this...I realize the OP of the other question had made this point on the last page just now. But it's a good question, so I'm leaving it.

To ensure a well rounded education, differing religions should be offered. The time spent on an already dominating faith is in my opinion redundant. Children need to be exposed to cultures that are not of their own. This would start a line of understanding, of communication and of fellowship.

If a school can not or rather will not be more rounded on their electives then they should not have any classes dedicated to any religion

I'd prefer a religious history class, but I would be fine with an elective Islamic history class. Kids have to learn about other cultures, the work force in the future is more global and I want my kids to understand other cultures and see things from different perspectives.

Personally, I would not have my child in ANY RELIGION class, elective or not, IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL that was not my own religion. if I want any sort of religion taught to him outside of our home/church, i'd enroll him our particular faith's private school. I would rather religion, in any form, be kept out of public schools, than to risk misinformation and misinterpretation by a stranger with an agenda I may not agree with. Period.

I'm ok with having classes like that be electives in high school for a few reasons. First, learning about other cultures helps us understand the world around us. Second, if a high schooler has a career path leaning toward politics/diplomatic relations this would be a good background. Lastly, if it's an elective, those who are offended can simple not take the class.

Lastly, if it's an elective, those who are offended can simple not take the class.

Except, as it was pointed out in the other question, electives in jr high and high school are not the same as electives in college. You are required to take X amount of electives, they have a very limited offering, and if the one you want fills up, you are forced to take one you don't want or else you don't move on to the next grade (or in the case of hs, graduate). In the case of the other question, you literally have 5 choices total, and 4 of them require some sort of talent to do well. In other schools, there may be more options, but that still doesn't account for scheduling. If choir and your 2nd year of foreign language are only offered at the same time, you get shunted into religion or you don't pass, period.

At the elementary to secondary school levels of public schools, I'd prefer they only offer a study of 'all religions' that covers most of the world's religions from a historical and/or cultural perspective. I'm sure it would be impossible to literally cover all religions in a semester course or even a full year course, but they could cover parts of most of them. Plus, based on what I read at firstamendmentcenter.org that is the recommendation in order to have a 'fair and balanced curriculum'. Also, if they do have Bible or other courses based on specific religious courses, they have to be careful how they teach it, so they are not trying to indoctrinate, and it would better to have more than one source in the class. If the class included xyz sacred text (e.g. Bible, Quaran, etc.), then it should be balanced with non-religious sources from a variety of theology scholars and maybe even archaeology and history sources.